Russia missing from Trump's defence priorities memo

By bne IntelliNews December 21, 2016

The word Russia was missing from memo outlining US president-elect's defence priorities when he takes up office in January. Previously the Obama had listed Russia as the  “main threat to the US,” according to a report by Foreign Policy. 

Among the security challenges the US faces are IS, budget caps and improving efficiency, but Russia did not feature anywhere in the memo. 

“People there now would be pretty concerned to see Russia not on the list,” said Evelyn Farkas, a former senior Pentagon official who worked on Russia policy before leaving in 2015, cited by FP. 

The memo highlights the fight against Islamic State (IS) and containing China and North Korea as foreign policy priorities.

Previously the US military named Russia as the leading global threat, a stance also taken by presidential candidate Mitt Romney who Trump entertained briefly as a possible US Secretary of State. Instead Rex Tillerman was chosen, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, who has extensive experience of working in Russia and knows president Vladimir Putin personally.

 

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